Double Negative Collective

Chick Strand - Senses and Sensibilities

2010-10-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

The Festival du nouveau cinéma and the Double Negative Collective present the work of Chick Strand.

Chick Strand, who died at 77 in 2009, is one of the most important figures in U.S. experimental and poetic filmmaking. Strand co-founded Canyon Cinema in northern California in the early 1960s, made almost twenty films and nurtured a generation of experimental filmmakers through her teaching. Her intimate, sensual camerawork and profound exploration of women’s personal and domestic worlds make her approach to poetic documentary absolutely unique. Filmed in both the United States and Latin America, these works are provocative and lyrical explorations of what it means to be a woman, a worker, a wife and, most of all, a human being.

Our first series includes the sensual shorts Waterfall (1967), Kristallnacht (1979), Fever Dream (1979) and the extraordinary, controversial Soft Fiction (1979), in which five women recount intense experiences of pleasure and/or pain from their pasts, ranging from sexual urges to incest and heroin addiction.

The second series includes Strand’s first released film, Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966), as well as her first documentary, Mosori Monika (1970), in which she examines the relationship between an indigenous woman and a “civilizing” nun in Venezuela, and several powerful films shot in Mexico (1967-1986) that explore creative and domestic lives, mainly of women. - Irina Leimbacher

Irina Leimbacher will present the screening. She is a curator and film scholar of experimental and nonfiction film. She teaches at Keene StateCollege in New Hampshire, USA.

Screenings:

October 15 at 21H00 / October 16 at 19H15

Cinéma Paralèlle, 3536, boul. St.-Laurent, Montreal

(Festival du nouveau cinéma)

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Chick Strand, décédée l’an dernier à l’âge de 77 ans, fut l’une des plus importantes figures ducinéma expérimental et poétique aux États-Unis. Cofondatrice de Canyon Cinema au début des années 60, elle réalisa près de 20 films et son enseignement fut une source d’inspiration pour toute une génération de cinéastes expérimentaux. Il est peu de dire que ses documentaires poétiques sont absolument uniques, tant par l’approche sensuelle, intime qu’elle adopta, que par l’exploration approfondie des univers féminins qu’elle privilégia. Filmés aux États-Unis et en Amérique latine, elle a su mieux que tout autre, à sa façon provocante et lyrique, définir une femme, un travailleur, une épouse et par-dessus, tout un être humain.

Le premier programme inclut les sensuels Waterfall (1967), Kristallnacht (1979), Fever Dream (1979) et l’extraordinaire et controversé Soft Fiction (1979) dans lequel cinq femmes racontent leurs expériences les plus intenses de plaisir et/ou de souffrance, expériences allant de pulsions sexuelles impérieuses à la dépendance à l’héroïne en passant par l’inceste.

Dans le second programme, on retrouve son premier film, Angel Blue Sweet Wings (1966), son premier documentaire Mosori Monika (1970), sur la relation entre une femme autochtone et une religieuse missionnaire au Vénézuéla, ainsi que plusieurs films tournés au Mexique (1967-1986) qui sont autant de portraits au quotidien, principalement de femmes. - Irina Leimbacher

Irina Leimbacher, programmatrice invitée, présentera la séance. Spécialiste du cinéma expérimental et du documentaire, elle enseigne au Keene State College dans le New Hampshire.

Projections:

le 15 octobre 21H00 / le 16 octobre 19H15

Cinéma Paralèlle3536, boul. St.-Laurent, Montreal

(Festival du nouveau cinéma)

Light Light / Sound Sound

2010-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Constellation Records and the Double Negative Collective are presenting a free outdoor screening / live music performance in the parking lot of the Constellation Records office this Sunday, August 29th, 2010. There will be live performances by Brendan Reed, Xarah Dion, Ariel Engle and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and projected films and videos by Richard Kerr, Eduardo Menz, Mike Rollo, Malena Szlam, Daichi Saito, and Radwan Ghazi Moumneh. The event is free and the screening starts at 20H30. The address is 110 Van Horne, Montreal, Quebec.

For more information:

Facebook

“Melancholia” by James Elaine & William Basinski, Short Films 1997-2007

2010-06-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 14, 1pm at La Sala Rossa - Free Entrance
Followed by a Q & A with William Basinski
Co-presented by Double Negative Collective as a part of the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival

"In Melancholia, one is immediately transfixed by the lilting, repetitive piano melody of Basinski’s 'The Saddest Melody Ever Heard'. Drawn slowly through the dark veil of a lonely tunnel of trees, eventually the world is revealed, shining deceptively. Immediately one begins a bumpy journey around a dull and hollow shell, before being drawn back, away through the encroaching black veil that cloaks and colors all perception. Shot in Super-8 at the World’s Fairgrounds in Flushing Meadows, Queens, NY, Elaine & Basinski’s Melancholia is a concise, darkly romantic psalm, an elegy, a love letter to a broken world."

Double Negative Collective and Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival present: FOSTERING THE LIGHT, MASTERING THE NIGHT

2010-06-04T05:56:00.000-07:00

The Double Negative Collective presents a program showcasing their recent works as well as works by artists associated with Double Negative. Films and video by Christopher Becks, Lucia Fezzuoglio, Amber Goodwyn, Karl Lemieux, Lindsay McIntyre, Eduardo Menz, Mike Rollo, Daïchi Saïto, and Malena Szlam. Special guest: Sebastjan Henrickson of Niagara Custom Lab in Toronto, with his new 35mm film. Artists in attendance.

Thursday June 17th 2010, 9pm at Cinéma Parallèle (3536 Blvd. St. Laurent). $8
This screening is a part of the 2010 edition of the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival.

The Films of Robert Beavers

2010-04-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

The Double Negative Collective is honored to present the films of Robert Beavers with a rare screening of his work. The lifetime partner of fellow filmmaker Gregory Markopoulos, Beavers began making films in the 1960s and thus marked his place within the history of the American avant-garde. Senior curator Susan Oxtoby of the Pacific Film Archive has written: "The films of Robert Beavers are exceptional for their visual beauty, aural texture, and depth of emotional expression.” Beavers’ film oeuvre, not widely shown, has seen a revival in recent years with retrospectives at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and San Francisco Cinematheque. Feature analysis of his films and writings can be found in the Millennium Film Journal and Artforum. We would like to thank the following people for their assistance with this screening: the organizers of the "Early Monthly Segments" film screening series in Toronto (Kate MacKay, Scott Miller Berry, and Chris Kennedy) and Robert Beavers for allowing us to screen his 16mm prints.

The films featured in the program include:

Early Monthly Segments (1968-2002, 16mm, color, silent, 33min.)

The Painting (1972/1999, 16mm, color, sound, 13min.)

Pitcher of Colored Light (2007, 16mm, color, sound, 23min.)

The screening will take place on Sunday May 2^nd, 2010 at da time machine located at 155 Van Horne (between Waverly and De l’Esplanade) at 9:00pm (Door opens at 8:30pm). There is a suggested five dollar entrance fee.

Further reading of Robert Beavers’ work:

The Evening Class

Millennium Film Journal

Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley

Artforum

PARATAXIS

2009-12-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE COLLECTIVE presents a selection of recent experimental films and videos by Montreal filmmakers at Cinéma Parallèle.

jeudi 17 déc. 2009, 21h30
Cinéma Parallèle [3536 Boul. St-Laurent, Montreal, QC]

Parataxis is the juxtaposition of dissimilar images or fragments in language, creating new meaning with the odd pairing. In cinema, filmmakers usher in many surprising marriages of visual and sonic ideas with each depression of the splicer, as many curators articulate new meanings in a varied program of film and video work. With this program, the Double Negative Collective presents a selection of recent experimental films and videos by Montreal filmmakers at Cinéma Parallèle.

PERCEPTUAL SUBJECTIVITY | Philippe Léonard

COLUMNS IN THE SEA | Nancy Baric & Nicolas Renaud

À L’EST DES VENTS | Émilie Serri

LACUNA | Shannon Harris

THROUGH THREE EYES | James Schidlowsky

1 TO 8 | Amy Schwartz

j. | Alexandre Larose & Solomon Nagler

HYDROMORPHONE 8MG | François Miron

OVER NO THINGS | Yen-Chao Lin

OPARINE | Stéphane Calce

UNIVERSE OF BROKEN PARTS | Richard Kerr

STRIPS | Félix Dufour-Laperrière

One Take Super 8 Event

2009-11-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

Poster by Marie-Douce St-Jacques

One Take Super 8 Event
la brique, 6545 rue durocher, local 402 (coin beaubien) MTL
samedi le 21 novembre, portes 20h, films 21h
suggested donation $5

Participating filmmakers:

Hoda Adra
Stéphane Calce
Émile Cantin
Thierry Collins
Xarah Dion
Félix Dufour-Laperrière
Matthew Forbes
Jessica Fortin-Simard
Amber Goodwyn
André Habib
Marcus von Holtzendorff
Bogdan Karasek
Richard Kerr
Isabelle Kirouac
Alexandre Larose
Karl Lemieux
Philippe Léonard-Brazeau
Ara Mahrejian
Eduardo Menz
Maude Michaud
Diana Mihalache
Javiera Ovalle Sazie
Anita Pachulski
Alex Rogalski
Mike Rollo
Daichi Saito
Suzie Synnott
Malena Szlam
Roger Tellier-Craig
Emir Togrul
Mathieu Tremblay
Pierre-Luc Vaillancourt
Steve Woloshen & Alexandra Grimanis

Links:

About:

The One Take Super 8 Event (OTS8) began in 2000, with 20 filmmakers each shooting a single reel of Super 8 film, which then premiered to an audience without the filmmakers seeing their work beforehand. All the films were shown as shot. No cuts. No splices. The popularity of this non-competitive festival has allowed it to return each year with more filmmakers participating. To date over 600 films have been created for the One Take Super 8 Event!

DOUBLE NEGATIVE COLLECTIVE ALCHEMICAL ILLUMINATION

2009-10-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

Double Negative will be screening recent work at Club Saw in Ottawa on November 5th, 2009 at 730pm. The screening is presented by Cafe Ex and programmed by Scott Birdwise.

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Café Ex @ Club SAW is pleased to present a selection of films from Montreal-based filmmaking collective, Double Negative. In an age of big business financed, industry-based, capital-oriented film production, Double Negative Collective represents an innovative and much-needed alternative. Where the Industry model dominates discourse and puts a premium on instant recognition, the generation of capital, and the consolidation of power, the twelve filmmakers that comprise Double Negative participate in a democratic discussion on film/video form, aesthetics, and politics – in brief, the past, present, and (possible) future(s) of cinema. The fourteen works chosen for this exhibition represent the challenge posed by Double Negative to much of the current stagnation of film in the 21st Century.
(Scott Birdwise, Programmer)

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For further information please check out the Canadian Film Institute website - Click HERE

and the FACEBOOK event site.

One Take Super 8 Event - Open Call

2009-09-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

Entries are now open for the Montreal One Take Super 8 Event. Fill it out, drop it off and start shooting! If you do not have a super 8 camera the Double Negative gang will help you find the necessary resources, places and people to realize your film. Don't wait for the last minute, the registration deadline is September 30th, 2009. To find out more information please check out the One Take Super 8 Event blog or contact Double Negative by email.

(Screening) DIM Cinema at the Pacific Cinematheque

2009-09-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

Image: Lucia Fezzuoglio

Double Negative will be screening new and recent work on September 28th, 2009 at the Pacific Cinematheque monthly curatorial screening - DIM Cinema - organized by Amy Lynn Kazymerchyk.

Works by filmmakers include:

Christopher Becks

Lucia Fezzuoglio

Amber Goodwyn

Steven Ladouceur

Karl Lemieux

Eduardo Menz

Mike Rollo

Daichi Saito

and

Malena Szlam

For more information please check:

Pacific Cinematheque at www.cinematheque.bc.ca

DIM Cinema at dimcinema.ca

Weekend in the Pines

2009-06-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

xxx Weekend In the Pines xxx

In Conjunction with Cinéma Abattoir and Double Negative Collective presents:

Projection/Sonic Levitation

Friday July 3^rd

Subversive Short Film Program #1

Whilst

Tom Carter (Charalambides/USA)

Zaimph (Marcia Bassett from Double Leopards, Hototogisu/USA)

Menace Ruine

Saturday July 4^th

Subversive Short Film Program #2:

Karl Lemieux film projection performance w/ Hyena Hive and David Bryant

Chromosphere

Dreamcatcher

Bill Nace (USA)

Metalux (USA)

Sunday July 5^th

The Films of Etienne O'Leary

Steve Bates

Novi_sad (Athens, Greece)

multi-projector performance by Bruce McClure (USA)

***Film Screenings begin at 8PM each night/Music starts at 10PM

xxx The Pines – 316 Murray st. #205 - Griffintown - Metro Bonaventure xxx

The Loop Collective: Recent Works in Film and Video

2009-02-20T07:20:00.000-08:00

The Loop Collective: Recent Works in Film and Video

Thursday, February 26, 2009
21H15
Ex-Centris (Cinéma Parallèle)
3536, Boul. St. Laurent (Metro Saint Laurent / Bus 55) / (Metro Sherbrooke)

Based in Toronto, Loop is a collective of independent media artists that strives to develop a public platform integrating experimental film and video with other art forms. The Loop Collective programs and produces work for presentation through exhibitions and events in both traditional and non-traditional spaces. Their mission is to explore the roots of experimental film and video by creating a dialogue with other art media. They strive to promote experimental film and video for critical engagement by cultivating relations among different artistic communities.

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The Loop Collective: Œuvres récentes

Basé à Toronto, Loop est un collectif d'artistes indépendants en arts médiatiques qui cherche à développer une plate-forme publique, intégrant le cinéma expérimental et la vidéo avec d'autres formes d'art. Nous programmons et produisons des œuvres afin de les présenter par le biais d'expositions et d'événements dans des espaces traditionnels et non traditionnels. Nous nous efforçons de promouvoir le cinéma et la vidéo expérimentale vers un engagement critique en cultivant des relations entre les différentes communautés artistiques.

Programme (total running time 73 minutes):

Parícutin by Erika Loic
2007 | 14 min | 16mm | colour | sound

Untitled (waterfilm) by Dan Browne
2007 | 6 min 30 sec | 16mm | colour | sound/silent

mary/me by Kelly Egan
2004 | 4 min | 16mm | colour | sound

c: won eyed jail by Kelly Egan
2005 | 4 min 30 sec | 35mm | colour | sound

Echo by Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof
2007 | 9 min | 16mm | colour | sound

Pulsions by Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof
2007 | 9 min 20 sec | 16mm | colour | sound

His Face by Kate Zimmerman
2008 | 3 min | 16mm | b&w | silent

Girls!Girls!Girls! by Shana MacDonald
2007 | 7 min | beta-SP | colour | sound

Outside Sarajevo by Ajla Odobasic
2007 | 2 min | beta-SP | b&w | silent

Shapes Eat Shapes by Angela Joosse
2006 | 3 min 16 sec | beta-SP | colour | sound

Spiders in Eden by Ty Tekatch
2008 | 11 min | beta-SP | colour | sound

For more information please check out the following links:

www.loopcollective.com

Double Negative Collective Facebook Group

www.ex-centris.com

Double Negative - ESSE magazine

2009-01-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Double Negative Collective is featured in the current issue of ESSE magazine. The work featured in the magazine is from DN's loop installation at the CTRL Lab from October 2008. Posted is a collage of images taken by DN member Malena Szlam from the installation.

Time and Place : the films of Ernie Gehr

2008-10-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hors champ presents

Time and Place : the films of Ernie Gehr

— 30 October-1^st November 2008, Cinémathèque québécoise —

In collaboration with the Cinémathèque québécoise, the Web Journal Hors champ (www.horschamp.qc.ca) will be presenting a cycle of films by New York experimental filmmaker Ernie Gehr : a rare occasion to discover the work of a true pioneer of the American Avant-Garde, from October 30 through November 1. Ernie Gehr will be in Montreal to present the three evenings of screenings (9 16mm gems) and a « Master Class » (in English) on the relationship between experimental cinema and early cinema.

Ernie Gehr and André Habib (organizer of the event and co-editor of Hors champ) will be also available for interviews.

The Films of Ernie Gehr (finally in Montreal)

Ernie Gehr is, alongside Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow and Peter Kubelka, one of the pillars of experimental cinema. His films, and more recently his video and installation works, reveal a fascination for urban landscapes, sites of memory (Passage, Signal-Germany on the Air), perspective and the limits of perception (Serene Velocity), as well as optic toys (Cotton Candy), the origins of cinema (Eureka) or simply the tracing of light on film (Wait, Mirage). The conceptual rigor and the visual power of his films seem to operate a reduction of cinema to its fundamental elements, as if starting anew, each time, and rediscovering the destabilizing shock of the origins of cinema as well as its radical transformation of the visible. His films, that we could wrongly consider "minimalist", are on the contrary the site of profound interior experiences. Made up of light, space, duration, movement, Ernie Gehr's films also bare a documentary trace, always at the precise intersection of a specific time and place, whether it be a street in New York in 1971 (Shift), of San Francisco at the turn of the XXth Century (Eureka) or in the early 90's (Side/Walk/Shuttle), or of Berlin in 1989, right before the fall of the Wall (This Side of Paradise).

Although it is quoted in all the anthologies of avant-garde cinema, has been regularly written about by the most important scholars (Sitney, Gunning, Skoller, Michelsson, etc.) and praised by critics and film historians, the films of Ernie Gehr are proverbially hard to see. Hors champ has tried to modestly remedy this situation, by presenting, for the first time in Montreal, some essential "moments" of his vast filmography. Ernie Gehr will be in Montreal to present to programs and take part in a "Master Class".

Hors champ (www.horschamp.qc.ca) receives the support of the Canada Arts Council and the Montreal Arts Council. This specific programme was made possible thanks to a contribution by the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema of Concordia University, as well as the Département d'Histoire de l'art et d'études cinématographiques of the Université de Montréal.

CINÉMATHÈQUE QUÉBÉCOISE
335 boul. De Maisonneuve Est
Montréal (Québec) Canada H2X 1K1
T. 514 842.9768 poste 255 |Téléc. 514 842.5313
www.cinematheque.qc.ca

Les films d'Ernie Gehr (enfin présentés à Montréal)

Ernie Gehr est, avec Stan Brakhage, Michael Snow et Peter Kubelka, l'un des piliers du cinéma expérimental. Ses films, et plus récemment ses vidéos et ses installations, révèlent une fascination pour les paysages urbains, les lieux de mémoire (Passage, Signal-Germany on the Air), la perspective et les limites de la perception (Serene Velocity), tout autant que pour les jouets optiques (Cotton Candy), les origines du cinéma (Eureka) ou tout simplement les tracés de la lumière sur la pellicule (Wait, Mirage). La rigueur conceptuelle et la force plastique de ses oeuvres opèrent une réduction du cinéma à ses éléments fondamentaux, repartant à zéro pour retrouver le choc déstabilisant des origines du cinéma et sa radicale puissance de transformation du visible. Ces films, que l'on qualifierait à tort de « minimalistes », sont le lieu au contraire d'une expérience intérieure foisonnante. Faits de lumière, d'espace, de durée, de mouvement, les films de Gehr portent aussi une trame documentaire, en se situant à l'intersection précise d'un temps et d'un lieu, qu'il s'agisse d'une rue de New York en 1971 (Shift), de San Francisco au tournant du XXe siècle (Eureka) ou en 1991 (Side/Walk/Shuttle), de Berlin en 1989, à la veille de la chute du Mur (This Side of Paradise).

Malgré qu'elle soit citée dans toutes les anthologies sur le cinéma d'avant-garde, louangée par les critiques et les historiens, l'oeuvre de Gehr est proverbialement peu visible. C'est à ce déficit qu'Hors champ a tenté de remédier, en présentant quelques jalons essentiels de sa filmographie. Ernie Gehr présentera les trois séances, et offrira également une classe de maître.

La revue Hors champ (www.horschamp.qc.ca ) reçoit le soutien du Conseil des arts du Canada et du Conseil des arts de Montréal. Le programme consacré à Ernie Gehr a été rendu possible grâce à une contribution du Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema de l'Université Concordia, ainsi que du Département d'Histoire de l'art et d'études cinématographiques de l'Université de Montréal.

CINÉMATHÈQUE QUÉBÉCOISE
335 boul. De Maisonneuve Est
Montréal (Québec) Canada H2X 1K1
T. 514 842.9768 poste 255 |Téléc. 514 842.5313
www.cinematheque.qc.ca

SCREAMING CITY > Pleasure Dome

2008-10-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 19, 2008, 6pm / 7.30pm / 9pm
La Sala Rossa
4848, boul. St-Laurent, Montréal
$5 per program or $10 for the evening

Screaming City: West Berlin 1980s / Une ville gueule: les années 1980 à Berlin-Ouest

Curated by Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and Florian Wüst (in person)

A project initiated by Pleasure Dome, Toronto, in collaboration with Articule and Double Negative Collective in Montreal

Between the end of the 1970s and the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, a vast number of films were produced in and about West Berlin, dealing with the ambivalent realities of the enclosed city. Highly subsidized by the Federal Republic of Germany as a "shop window of the Free West", West Berlin had become an island, an inverted fortress for all those who saught to experience themselves without economical pressures, and to express themselves by all means. It wasn't about devoting oneself to the World Revolution anymore, but to implement alternative life styles and ways of housing, giving rise to social resistance, strident underground cultures and sexual border-crossing. Pessimism and apocalyptic moods, not least driven by the enhanced arms race and nuclear threats of the period, mixed with extravagance, punk and queerness.

Where images lived a special life inmidst the deadlock of socialist and capitalist ideologies that nowhere else materialized as spectacular as in the divided city of Berlin, an idiosyncratic crossover of music, performance, art and super-8 movement developed. For many young filmmakers, super-8 facilitated the production of low cost and truly independent films. The technical limitations of the medium embodied a strong means of spontaneity and purposeful dilettantism, while super-8 was easy to distribute and show in underground cinemas, clubs and cafes. Even institutions like the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin (dffb) fostered a spirit of radical subjectivity and experimentation among students.

The extraordinary activity of the various groups and individuals working with film and video in West Berlin in the 1980s was subject to an extensive retrospective in October 2006 at Kino Arsenal, Berlin, entitled Who says concrete doesn't burn, have you tried? The series comprised all kinds of film genres, from experimental films and video art to documentary and fiction, and covered a multiplicity of issues. For Screaming City: West Berlin 1980s, the curators of the series, Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and Florian Wüst, selected two short film programs and a feature-length music film that cast light on this unique, yet partly forgotten historical period and urban site of German film production.

With generous support of Goethe-Institute Toronto.

(All films without dialogue or with English subtitles)

Program 1: Under Siege

a-b-city, Brigitte Buehler, Dieter Hormel, Super-8 on video, 1985, 8'

Böse zu sein ist auch ein Beweis von Gefühl, Cynthia Beatt, 16mm, 1983, 25'

60cm über dem Erdboden, Andrea Hillen, Super-8 on video, 1984, 6'

Geld, Brigitte Bühler, Dieter Hormel, Super-8 on video, 1983, 4'

Tattoo Suite, Rolf S. Wolkenstein, 16mm on video, 1984, 23'

Darum oder was erwartest Du?, Jürgen Baldiga, Super-8 on video, 1981, 7'

Program 2: Night Souls

Normalzustand, Yana Yo, Super-8 on video, 1981, 3'

Bad Blood for the Vampyr, Lysanne Thibodeau, 16mm, 1984, 22'

Ohne Liebe gibt es keinen Tod, Ingrid Maye, Volker Rendschmidt, Super-8 on video, 1980, 5'

Persona Non Grata, Christoph Doering, Super-8 on video, 1981, 16'

Kreuzberger Frauen, Klaus Beyer, Super-8 on video, 1983, 3'

Die Botschaft (Totentanz 8), Michael Brynntrup, 16mm, 1989, 10'

Naturkatastrophenkonzert, Die Tödliche Doris, Video, 1983, 3'

Program 3: OKAY OKAY. Der moderne Tanz

OKAY OKAY. Der moderne Tanz, Christoph Dreher, Heiner Mühlenbrock, 16mm, 1980, 90'

Double Negative at Pop Montreal- one night only!

2008-10-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

Ctrllab hosts
Pop Montreal/Film Pop presents,

IF IT IS SO
TO BE SO IN
GO IN TO IT
AS IT IS SO
IT IS IN US
IS IT AS IF
IT IS OF ME

A one-night-only immersive film-loop installation. A room full of constantly moving projectors, looping 16mm mechanical-light-play in all directions. Perpetual repetition, or: the waking dream. A collaborative cinematic environment presented by the members of Montreal's Double Negative Collective.

with new works from
Lucia Fezzuoglio
Amber Goodwyn
Matt Law
Karl Lemieux
Eduardo Menz
Micheal Rollo
Daichi Saito
Ithamar Silver
Malena Szlam

This event is FREE
Friday October 3rd 2008, 7 - 11pm
Ctrllab
3634 St. Laurent Blvd(north of Prince Arthur)
www.ctrllab.com

Double Negative Collective Screenings

2008-09-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

The Double Negative Collective will have a very busy fall in 2008. We are proud to announce the following screenings in September:

EXiS 2008 Experimental Film and Video Festival, Seoul KOREA (September 04 - 10)

www.ex-is.org

The screening will take place at Space Cell and features the following films:

ALL THAT RISES by Daïchi Saïto
PARALLAX by Christopher Becks
PAPER NAUTILUS by Amber Goodwyn
FRACAS by Eduardo Menz
UNTITLED by Lucia Fezzuoglio
LAS MUJERES DE PINOCHET (PINOCHET’S WOMEN) by Eduardo Menz
THE NERVOUS LOOPS by Julien Idrac
MOTION OF LIGHT (MOUVEMENT DE LUMIÈRE) by Karl Lemieux
LOLA by Mike Rollo
THOUGH SHE NEVER SPOKE, THIS IS WHERE HER VOICE WOULD HAVE BEEN by
Lindsay McIntyre
ARTIFACTS by Steven Ladouceur
THE GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS (EL JARDIN DE SENDEROS QUE SE BIFURCAN)
by Malena Szlam
WESTERN SUNBURN by Karl Lemieux
GHOSTS AND GRAVEL ROADS by Mike Rollo

The collective will also screen work at the Antimatter Film Festival in Victoria CANADA in a special program entitled "Images in Back of the Head" on September 20th.

From the Antimatter Film Festival:
Dedicated to the exhibition and nurturing of film and video as art, Antimatter has grown into the premier showcase of experimental cinema in the west. Encompassing screenings, installations, performances and media hybrids, Antimatter provides a noncompetitive festival setting in Victoria, British Columbia, free from commercial and industry agendas.

To view the program click HERE

SAMI VAN INGEN: THREE 35MM FILM WORKS

2008-08-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

The Sequent Of Hanna Ave (2006)

SAMI VAN INGEN: THREE 35MM FILM WORKS

AUGUST 7 (Thu.) 9:00 p.m.

Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-Centris)
3536, boul. St-Laurent, Montreal

Ticket $7.50

Info: 514-847-2206 (box-office)
www.ex-centris.com

PROGRAM
The Sequent of Hanna Ave.
(5 min., 35mm, Cinemascope, Dolby Digital sound, 2006)
Deep Six
(7 min., 35mm, Cinemascope, Dolby Digital sound, 2007)
Fokus
(40 min., 35mm, 1/1.85, Dolby Digital sound, 2004)

Artist in attendance

“The Sequent of Hanna Ave. is the result of my enquiries into the phenomena of the movement-illusionism in the film form. By combining found footage, hand- processing and hi-end digital technology, I propose to elevate a few mundane gestures to a new perceptible wholeness, and give some small fingers and a c-cassette tape all th attention, grace and drama they somehow deserve. Deep Six has three starting points: a little narrative re-edited from a Hollywood B-film (The Rage, 1998), an attempt to use the colour photocopy as a cinematic aesthetic and to explore the frame line as a dynamic visual element. The 512 original frames that Fokus is made from are from my grandmothers 1950´s home movie. By deconstructing and re-constructing these scenes, my aim was to enhance meanings that are already present in the original material, but easily escape the spectator's attention.” (Sami van Ingen)

BIOGRAPHY
For more than two decedes, Sami van Ingen (b. 1964) has made experimental films and installations based on the moving image. One of the main characteristics of his work is an examination of the cinematic apparatus itself and the boundaries within it. His works have been screened in many national and international festivals and venues over the years. Collaborators include filmmakers Philip Hoffman and Bruce Baillie, as well as composer Petri Kuljuntausta.

ARTHUR LIPSETT: ABOUT TIME

2008-05-06T09:15:00.001-07:00

21-87 (1964)

Fluxes (1968)

THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE COLLECTIVE
PRESENTS
ARTHUR LIPSETT: ABOUT TIME, A FILM RETROSPECTIVE
CURATED BY BRETT KASHMERE

Double Negative Collective:
Arthur Lipsett: About Time, A Film Retrospective
June 4th, 5th, 6th, 12th
Cinémathèque québécoise
335, boul. De Maisonneuve Est, Metro Berri-Uqam
Price - Adult 7$ Student (13-30) 6$

The Double Negative Collective, in collaboration with the Cinémathèque québécoise, is pleased to invite curator Brett Kashmere to present a film retrospective from Canadian filmmaker Arthur Lipsett. The exhibition takes place at the Cinémathèque québécoise June 4th, 5th and 6th. Eric Gaucher’s documentary on Arthur Lipsett screens on June 12th at 7pm.

Propelled to international attention through an Oscar nomination at the age of 25, the legendary National Film Board artist Arthur Lipsett remains an anomaly within avant-garde film histories. Uneasily oscillating between a personal, artisanal tradition and the NFB’s institutional mandate “to interpret Canada for Canadians,” he was a popular experimental filmmaker whose eccentric, satirical collage films were renowned around the world. Lipsett’s films were admired by diverse film patriarchs such as Stanley Kubrick, Stan Brakhage, and George Lucas. The exhibition Arthur Lipsett: About Time presents an overdue retrospective of Lipsett’s concise but influential career, re-assembling his dazzling collage work alongside correlative Canadian media artists from the past half-century. - Brett Kashmere

About Brett Kashmere:
Brett Kashmere is a filmmaker, curator, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio, USA. Kashmere has organized programs for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Strasbourg, Light Cone, Cinematheque Quebecoise, Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology, Cinema Project, Vtape, and Cinematheque Ontario.

For more information:
www.brettkashmere.com/arthur_lipsett.html
www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/04/lipsett.html
www.cinematheque.qc.ca

Double Negative Collective Screening

2008-03-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Poster Design: Marie-Hélène Houpert

(still)
Pan of the Landscape - Chris Becks

DOUBLE NEGATIVE COLLECTIVE SCREEN OWN WORK AT EX-CENTRIS

The Double Negative Collective, a dedicated group of Montréal-based filmmakers and curators of cinema, plan to screen an evening of new, original work Thursday, March 20th at 9:30pm at Cinéma Parallel (Ex-Centris, 3536 St. Laurent). After curating several successful avant-garde film and video programs and exhibiting an exciting group installation show at CTRL LAB (June 2007), the Double Negative Collective have returned to the black box this time with a program of their own experimental film and video, for the first time in three years. Collective members whose work will be included are Christopher Becks, Lucia Fezzuoglio, Amber Goodwyn, Steven Ladouceur, Karl Lemieux, Lindsay McIntyre, Eduardo Menz, Mike Rollo, Daichi Saito and Malena Szlam.

The past couple of years have been an exciting time indeed for the Double Negative Collective. In January they screened Jack Chambers’ Hart Of London to a sold out room at The Cinémathèque québécoise and hosted the Canadian part of TIE (The International Cinema Exposition) in November 2007. Other recent programs of note include screenings of work by Vincent Grenier (Québec), Nicky Hamlyn (London, UK), Guy Sherwin (London, UK) and the ETNA Collective (France).

Double Negative Collective – An Evening of Experimental Film and Video
Thursday, March 20th at 9:30PM
Ex-Centris (Cinéma Parallel)
3536 Boul. St. Laurent
Montreal, QC

For reference purposes:
www.ex-centris.com
doublenegatif@gmail.com

Le Collectif Double Négatif, un groupe basé à Montréal, dédié à la création et la présentation de cinéma, planifie une soirée de projection de nouvelles oeuvres originales le jeudi 20 mars à 21:30 au Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-Centris, 3536 boul. Saint-Laurent). Après avoir présenté plusieurs programmes de films et de vidéos d’avant-garde et avoir exposé une excitante installation de groupe au CTRL LAB (juin 2007), le Collectif Double Négatif est de retour à la boîte noire, cette fois avec un programme de leurs propres films et vidéos expérimentaux pour la première fois en trois ans. Les membres du collectif pour qui le travail sera présenté sont, Christopher Becks, Lucia Fezzuoglio, Amber Goodwyn, Steven Ladouceur, Karl Lemieux, Lindsay McIntyre, Eduardo Menz, Mike Rollo, Daichi Saito et Malena Szlam.

En effet, les deux dernières années ont été un temps excitant pour le Collectif Double Négatif. En janvier le collectif a présenté Hart Of London de Jack Chambers pour une salle comble à la Cinémathèque Québécoise et il a été l’hôte du volet canadien de TIE (The International Cinema Exposition) en novembre 2007. Parmi d’autres programmations récentes, il y a eu notamment la projection d’oeuvres de Vincent Grenier (Québec), de Nicky Hamlyn (Londres, G-B), de Guy Sherwin Londres, G-B) et celle du collectif ETNA (France).

Collectif Double Négatif - Une soirée de films et de vidéos expérimentaux
Le jeudi 20 Mars à 21:30
Ex-Centris (Cinéma Parallèle)
3536 boul. Saint-Laurent
Montréal, QC

À titre de référence:
www.ex-centris.com
doublenegatif@gmail.com

The Hart of London

2008-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 16 2008

630pm
Cinémathèque Québécoise (335, boul. De Maisonneuve Est, Métro Berri-UQAM)

The Hart of London [Can., 1970, 79 min]
Director: Jack Chambers

"The Hart of London is a sprawling, ambitious film that combines newsreel footage of disasters, urban and nature imagery, and footage evoking the cycles of life and death. It is on of those rare films that succeed precisely because of its sprawl; raw and open-ended almost to the point of anticipating the postmodern rejection of "master narratives," it cannot be reduced to a simple summary, and changes on you from one viewing to the next." (Fred Camper)

INTRODUCTION BY FILMMAKER RICHARD KERR

ABOUT JACK CHAMBERS -

"Jack Chambers is one of Canada's most famous and greatest living painters. Why then have his films been as neglected as they have been? I feel that it is because his films do not arise as an adjunct to his painting (as is true in the case of most other painter film-makers) but that, rather, Jack Chambers has realized the almost opposed aesthetics of paint and film and has created a body of moving pictures so crucially unique as to fright paint buffery: thus his films have inherited a social position kin to that of the films of Joseph Cornell in this country. The fact is that four films of Jack Chambers have changed the whole history of film, despite their neglect, in a way that isn't possible within the field of painting. There are no 'masters' of film in any significant sense whatsoever. There are only 'makers' of film in the original, or at least medieval, sense of the word. Jack Chambers is a true 'maker' of films. He needs no stance, or standing, for he dances attendance upon the coming-into-being of something recognizably new: (and as all is new, always, one must question the veracity of all works, whatever medium, which beseem everything but that truth)." -- Stan Brakhage

TIE 2007 in Montreal flyer

2007-10-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

TIE, THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA EXPOSITION, November 2-4th

2007-10-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

MONTRÉAL, CANADATO HOST THE 2007 EDITION OF TIE, THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA EXPOSITION TIE: November 2-4, Montreal Quebec, various locations.

Since its creation in 2000, The International Experimental Cinema Exposition, or TIE, has been a festival concerned with the preservation and continued exhibition of avant-garde film, as well as presenting new and innovative experimental cinema. It has grown impressively in stature and in scope and is widely considered to be the most important film exhibition of its kind. Major avant-garde film figures such as the late Stan Brakhage, Bernardo Vorobow, Standish Lawder, M. M. Serra, and Peter Tscherkassky have sat on its board. In addition to the multi-day festival featuring films and filmmakers from around the globe, it hosts new curatorial research, film exhibitions, restoration projects, archival studies and scholarly presentations. TIE's selection of works is organized around what its mission describes as the "film language": works that illuminate the medium of film and what it is. TIE was founded as a means to present thoughtfully-programmed and diverse experimental cinema while at the same time creating a vital gathering of creative minds for the medium.

Organized by the Double Negative Film Collective of Montréal,the festival is held November 2-4, 2007. A Super-8 screening and reception kick the event off on Friday night, while the majority of the film screenings take place on Saturdayat Concordia University J.A. de Sève Cinema. Sunday features an intimate round-table discussion with the visiting filmmakers lead by TIE curator, Christopher May.The full schedule, program notes as well as tickets and passes will be available online at the TIE website: http://www.experimentalcinema.org

TIE-2007 includes over thirty films. Filmmakers will be in person to discuss their film in person including Jeanne Liotta, Michael Robinson, Robert Todd, Daichi Saito(Montreal resident), and Jonathan Schwartz, among others and will feature work by Luther Price, Jonathan Schwartz, Michael Robinson continues in Montevideo, Uruguay, November 21-24, 2007 with a thirty-plus film line-up that includes the first retrospective of Brazilian experimental cinema appearing outside of Brazil and a first-time retrospective dedicated to the films of Albert Sackl, among other programs and films.at Concordia University's J.A. de Sève Cinema. Sunday features an intimate round-table discussion with the visiting filmmakers lead by TIE curator, Christopher May. The full schedule, program notes as well as tickets and passes will be available online at the TIE website.

DOUBLE NEGATIVE at the WNDX Festival Oct. 4-07

2007-09-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

RADIANCE: New Works from Canadian Collective Celluloid Practitioners
Saturday, October 4 at 7 PM | Cinematheque – Introduced by the Loop Collective's Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof

SPECIAL DOUBLE PROGAM with an intermission between 8:30 PM and 9 PM

"As the impracticality of Celluloid as an instrument of image taking pushes it into the realm of craft, collectives of craftsphttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifeople have sprung up, working in unison to create work etched in alchemy, and burnt with light. These collectives often work together as both practitioners of Celluloid arts, and exhibitors of work from across the globe to their communities. Two such collectives are creating work in Eastern Canada. They are the Double Negative Collective in Montreal, and the Loop Collective in Toronto. Dedicated to producing work that explores film as craft, these artists inspire each other to create films that develop regional characteristics. With this, experimental work gains a new sense of familiarity as it radiates the creative energies that emanate from collective inspiration."

- Sol Nagler

For more details and to view the film program please visit the program page on the WNDX website.

Screening: Vincent Grenier in person at Ex-Centris Sept. 27

2007-09-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

LE COLLECTIF DOUBLE NÉGATIF PRÉSENTE:

Dimensions de la lumière : l'oeuvre de Vincent Grenier

jeudi le 27 septembre
21h15
Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-Centris)
Tarif spécial : 7.50$

Après 16 ans d'absence, l'artiste québécois Vincent Grenier revient présenter un programme de courts-métrages expérimentaux comprenant ses premiers films 16mm ainsi que ses plus récentes oeuvres sur vidéo (projetées pour la première fois à Montréal). Profitez de cette occasion unique pour observer le parcours du formaliste rigoureux, de ses explorations phénoménologique de la lumière jusqu'à ses représentations cinématographiques uniques d'éléments culturels. Vincent Grenier enseigne le cinéma à l'Université de Binghamton dans l'état de New-York. Il se déplacera à Montréal pour l'occasion.

First time in 16 years, Quebecois artist Vincent Grenier makes his long-awaited return with a solo programme that includes his early 16mm films and recent digital video works not previously shown in Montreal. At this rare occasion, witness the passage the rigorous formalist has taken, moving through the phenomenological exploration of light and reaching unique cinematic expressions of cultural dimension. Grenier lives and works in the U.S. where he teaches cinema at Binghamton University, NY. Artist in attendance.

PROGRAMME :

Puits de lumière / Light Shaft (16mm, 8min., n/b, muet, 1975)
Closer Outside (16mm, 10min., couleur, muet, 1981)
Intérieur Interiors (To A.K.) (16mm, 15min., n/b, muet, 1978)
World in Focus (16mm, 20min., couleur, muet, 1976)
This, and This (DV, 10:30min., couleur, stéréo, 2006)
Surface Tension II (16mm, 4min., couleur, mono, 1995)
North Sourthernly (DV, 6min., couleur, stéréo, 2005)
Time's Wake (Once Removed) (16mm, 14min., n/b & couleur, muet, 1987)

Durée totale : 87min.30sec .

Biographie de l'artiste:
Né à Québec, Vincent Grenier à vécu aux Etats-Unis, principalement à New York. Il contribua grandement à la scène artistique Montréalaise durant les années 70 et 80. Il a réalisé plus d'une vingtaine de films depuis les années 70 et actuellement sa démarche s'oriente vers la vidéo. Son oeuvre a été présenté dans de nombreuses villes aux Etats-Unis, au Canada et en Europe, et exposé au Whitney Museum of American Art et au Museum of Modern Art à New York.

Biography of the Artist :
Born in Québec City, Vincent Grenier has lived largely in the U.S., mostly in New York City. He was, however, a frequent contributor to the Montreal art scenes of the 70's and 80's. He has made over two dozen films since the 70's and more recently videos. His work has been shown widely in the U.S., Canada and Europe and showcased at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, among many others.

Info:
Le Collectif double négatif / Double Negative Collective
Tél.: 514 270 1699
Courriel: doublenegatif@gmail.com

Upcoming Events for Double Negative + Karl Lemieux

2007-09-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

************************************************************************

20 - 23 SEPTEMBRE 2007 / VERNISSAGE JEUDI 20 SEPTEMBRE - 7h PM

@ CTRL LAB, 3634 Boulevard St-Laurent, Montréal, Canada

SCOTT SATHERLEY (New-Zeland / Nouvelle-Zélande)

commissaire / curator : Karl Lemieux

L’exposition : “Funtions and Disorders of the Reproductive System”

William Acton, a respected English physician, described the diagnosis
and treatment of male sexual diseases in The Functions and Disorders of
the Reproductive Organs in 1857.This show explores and celebrates the
excess, complications and uncertainty of reproducing in the 21st
Century. –S.S.

************************************************************************

JEUDI 27 SEPTEMBRE 2007 - 9h15 PM – 7.50$

@ Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-centris), 3536 Boulevard St-Laurent, Montréal,
Canada

Le Collectif Double Négatif Présente / Double Negative Collective
Presente :
Dimensions de la lumière : l’oeuvre de Vincent Grenier (en présence du
réalisateur)

Après 16 ans d'absence, l'artiste québécois Vincent Grenier revient
présenter un programme de courts-métrages expérimentaux comprenant ses
premiers films 16mm ainsi que ses plus récentes oeuvres sur vidéo
(projetées pour la première fois à Montréal). Profitez de cette occasion unique
pour observer le parcours du formaliste rigoureux, de ses
explorations phénoménologique de la lumière jusqu'à ses représentations
cinématographiques uniques d'éléments culturels. Vincent Grenier enseigne le
cinéma à l'Université de Binghamton dans l'état de New-York.

First time in 16 years, Quebecois artist Vincent Grenier makes his
long-awaited return with a solo programme that includes his early 16mm
films and recent digital video works not previously shown in Montreal. At
this rare occasion, witness the passage the rigorous formalist has
taken, moving through the phenomenological exploration of light and reaching
unique cinematic expressions of cultural dimension. Grenier lives and
works in the U.S. where he teaches cinema at Binghamton University, NY.

PROGRAMME :

Puits de lumière / Light Shaft (16mm, 8min., n/b, muet, 1975)
Closer Outside (16mm, 10min., couleur, muet, 1981)
Intérieur Interiors (To A.K.) (16mm, 15min., n/b, muet, 1978)
World in Focus (16mm, 20min., couleur, muet, 1976)
This, and This (DV, 10:30min., couleur, stéréo, 2006)
Surface Tension II (16mm, 4min., couleur, mono, 1995)
North Sourthernly (DV, 6min., couleur, stéréo, 2005)
Time's Wake (Once Removed) (16mm, 14min., n/b & couleur, muet, 1987)

Durée totale : 87min.30sec .

www.ex-centris.com

************************************************************************

21– 29 SEPTEMBRE / 25 SEPTEMBRE 2007 – 7h PM

@ 25fps Internacionalni Festival Eksperimentalnog Filma / Videa,
Zagreb, Croatia

Short film program “Contemporary Canadian experimental scene” : curated
by jury member Marcel Jean. (in attendance / en presence du
réalisateur)

«Western Sunburn»
(2007/ experimental/ 16 mm to mini DV/ b & w, color/ 10 min.)
producer and director : Karl Lemieux
music : Radwan Moumneh (Jerusalem in my heart)
editor Daichi Saito

«Mouvement de Lumière/ Motion of Light »
( 2004/ experimental-animation/ 16 mm/ b & w, color/ 8 min.)
producer, director and editor : Karl Lemieux
music: Olivier Borzeix (Ste. Sophie)

www.25fps.hr

************************************************************************

4 OCTOBRE 2007 – 9h PM

@Arts & Crafts Night, 5390 St-Laurent, Main Hall, Montréal, Canada

Anthony Seck / Sam Shalabi
with a multiple 16mm film projection performance by Karl Lemieux

The Stills

Young Galaxie

The Most Serene Republic

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6 OCTOBRE 2007 – 7h PM

@ WNDX, Experimental Film Festival, Winnipeg Cinematheque, Winnipeg,
Canada

Short film program “Radiance : new works from Canadian collective
celluloid practitioners”, split program with the Loop Collective (Toronto)
and the Double Negative Collective (Montreal) curated by Solomon Nagler

www.wndx.org/radiance

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9 OCTOBRE 2007 – 9h PM

@ Sala Rossa, 4873 Boulevard St-Laurent, Montréal, Canada

Shalabi Effect - with a multiple 16mm film projection performance by
Karl Lemieux

Ste. Sophie

Les Momies de Palerme

www.casadelpopolo.com

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10-21 OCTOBRE 2007

@ 36e Festival International du Nouveau Cinéma, Montréal, Canada

Short film program - première mondial – en compétition

«Passage»
(2007/ experimental-fiction/ s-16mm/ b & w/ 15 min.)
producer : Karl Lemieux, Nicolas Comeau and Rodrigue Jean
writer and director : Karl Lemieux
cinematography : Mathieu Laverdiere
editor : Mathieu Bouchard-Malo
music : David Bryant (Set Fire to flame, Godspeed you ! black emperor)
cast : Brigitte Pogonat, Francis Ducharme, Genevive Ouellon and Mathieu
Bourguet

www.nouveaucinema.ca

************************************************************************

22 – 26 OCTOBRE 2007

@ 26th Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden

Short film program

«Mouvement de Lumière/ Motion of Light »
( 2004/ experimental-animation/ 16 mm/ b & w, color/ 8 min.)
producer, director and editor : Karl Lemieux
music: Olivier Borzeix (Ste. Sophie)

www.shortfilmfestival.com

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25 OCTOBRE 2007

@ Cinema Abattoir / Cinema Du Parc, 3575 Avenue Du Parc, Montréal,
Canada

Olivier Borzeix - with a multiple 16mm film projection performance by
Karl Lemieux

CABINA OBSCURA

www.cinema-abattoir.com

Our Manifesto

2007-09-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

The palliative tendencies of conventional cinema configure audience as patient, filmmaker as pharmacist. The patient arrives, wearily, with his prescription, ready for the cure. The pharmacist officiates, moralizes on proper usage and dosage, translates the cryptic scribbles. He reminds the patient to get plenty of sleep.

The pharmacist keeps regular hours, closed on Sundays.

The alchemist has no such customers, or concerns. The alchemist looks for the illumination of base objects; she communicates telepathically with other practitioners; she wakes late in the day, wondering, “did I really?” remembering the brief, dark glow cast against the laboratory wall.

With the common goal of exploration through moving images, 12 Montreal-based artists have conspired to become the Double Negative Collective.

We find ourselves in the role of the alchemist: we promote accidents, discoveries, and failures; processes that lead into unknown landscapes; the fleeting tangibility of mystical and transformative forces; and the begetting of delicate, precious objects in the dark.

We locate cinema in human experience, in the eye, hand and heartbeat, not in the worn-out tropes that pass for meaning and feeling in conventional moviemaking.

We find mystery in processes: in materials, in ideas and in the world. The untutored, discovering camera is the prism we have found to draw these forces together.

We are choosing, through experiments in form, voice and vision, to initiate a dialogue long-neglected in the independent artist-based filmmaking community: a benevolent conspiracy of ideas. For this, we have gone back to the roots of the media of film and video to ask questions and seek answers.

We provide no prescription for what film ought to be, but elucidate what it is: impossible pasts and futures in a trajectory of unraveling present, images pausing and passing from somewhere up there, in back of the head. - DOUBLE NEGATIVE 2004

****

Film art is at a turning point in the world of cinema. There is a loss of vitality in the independent avant-garde filmmaking scene in Montreal and its filmmakers, more often than not, are willingly relegated to lesser cohorts of the commercial film industry. The double negative film collective is a dynamic group of emerging and established practitioners who reject the traditional forms of cinema and emphasize the creation of a new, formal, and personalized vision of the moving image. We strive to create, promote and disseminate films on a smaller scale filled with personal vision, artistic ingenuity, and experimental sensibilities. We are geared to revitalizing the exhausted forms of cinema and develop the possibilities of a new visual language.

As emerging artists, we extol the importance of a body of work for the artist and the collective itself. Our work serves as alternative to the complacent, passive viewer and will shed new light to the stale, traditional forms of cinema. In re-examining past concepts and re-interpreting future possibilities, the double negative film collective stresses the need for an expanded form of cinema, exploring the interaction of moving images and professing a postmodern re-mixture of the celluloid and the electronic.